The context of health care for all

Thursday, April 17, 2014 - 17:20 in Psychology & Sociology

Drawing on the experience of four nations, experts described how crises and fundamental transitions often prove the catalysts behind universal health care systems during a panel event Tuesday at Harvard’s Longwood campus. In Turkey, it took an earthquake and thousands of deaths to galvanize reform of an unequal system. For Mexico and Thailand, it took a democratic transition, coupled with constitutional guarantees of citizens’ right to health care. In China, it took an outbreak of SARS — and the global attention that accompanied it — to call attention to the flaws in a market-based system. The common element, according to Dean Julio Frenk of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), was that health care reform became aligned with wider national priorities. “In my opinion, the number one reason for success for reform is when it connects to the broader agenda in a country.” The result in each case been improved health-care access for...

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